Asia-Pacific ICAs:
Communities of Practice

By Kevin Balm

There are more than 125 people directly and actively involved in the work of the nine national ICAs in the Asia-Pacific region.
They range from paid staff members to volunteers.

The community development foci of these national ICAs include empowerment,
education, poverty reduction, sustainable
agriculture, health & sanitation, safe water supply and capacity building projects. They also undertake ToP facilitation
consultancies and offer courses in facilitation skills, facilitative leadership and change leadership to organizations.

The national ICAs have a long history of bi-lateral and multi-lateral connections. There have been many interchanges over the years between ICAs in Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Nepal, India and Bangladesh. Their connections also extend to ICAs in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. This trend serves as the foundation for the Peer-to-Peer model that is at the heart of the organising strategy of the global community
of national ICAs.

Communities of Practice –
The Form of Collaboration/Peer-to-Peer Relationships

The operational form we see these relationships
taking in the future is the Community
of Practice (CoP) approach. Etienne
Wenger defines CoPs as “groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do, and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly”. He identifies three elements developed in parallel that mark a CoP:

The domain: The identity of members is defined by a shared field of interest with a commitment to the field, and therefore a shared competence that distinguishes them from other people.

The community: In pursuing their interest, members engage in joint activities and discussions, help each other, and share information. They build relationships that enable them to learn from each other.

The practice: Members of a CoP are practitioners. They develop a shared repertoire
of resources: experiences, stories, tools and ways of addressing recurring problems.

At a recent online meeting of the national ICAs in the Asia-Pacific, the following arenas were identified as potential foci for collaboration:

1. Capacity (organisational, operational, governance, financial, leadership, fundraising, technical skills) building toward a viable economic model for ICA’s, includes entrepreneurship development

2. A framework of our community development curriculum that allows ICA to apply its uniqueness with community development. Such a framework that can be used globally is being developed

3. 2012 Global Conference in Nepal – preparation, promotion, participation & conference facilitation

4. Deepening our ICA community / philosophy - putting ourselves on the cutting edge

5. ToP global strategy: what is our face to the world

6. More structure/form around connecting ICAs with ToP facilitation trainers to train new facilitators

7. Seeking collaborations with other organizations beyond regular relationships

8. Information and best practice sharing and communication among ICA members and between ICAs

In the lead up to our next virtual meeting,
national ICAs are reflecting on the themes above, particularly the top 5 items. They are focusing on what actions and commitments they are willing to make toward realizing these themes. At our next virtual meeting, we will focus.